Tucker Carlson Tonight Segment with Tulsie Gabbard Interviewing George Santos
This interview aired Dec 28, 2022, for the record, but it’s still instructive, as well as a nice hors d’oeuvres for the OAN interview with George Santos, which airs sometime today.
Just as an aside, look at that screencap for the video. Dead eyes. Disdain and contempt on his face. Tells you all you need to know…
TULSI GABBARD (HOST): Permanent Washington has created a culture where it’s acceptable to lie to further your own interests. Just try not to get caught. I should know; I served in Congress for eight years.
But even when these politicians do get caught, people just shrug their shoulders and move on. No big deal; no consequences. A few examples: Dick Blumenthal lied about his military service. And, of course, Elizabeth Warren. She lied about having Native American heritage. So no one should be surprised if the American people don’t trust these politicians; that they’ve got no faith that those in Washington are actually working for the people, when they’re so clearly working for themselves.
Now there are new accusations that George Santos, who was just elected to represent New York in Congress in this past election, has actually been lying extensively about his own past. He admits to some of these deceptions. For example: Santos acknowledges that he “embellished” his resume by saying that he graduated from Baruch College. But he didn’t. Santos has also admitted he never actually worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, even though his website suggested that he did. Additionally, Santos once called himself a “proud Jew.” But in an interview with the New York Post, Santos now says, “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was ‘Jew-ish.'”
There are other accusations, but now we have the opportunity to hear directly from George Santos himself. This is his very first TV interview since these accusations surfaced. George Santos joins us now.
Congressman-elect Santos, thank you for joining us today. Um, first question I really want to ask you now that all this has been revealed is, what does the word “integrity” mean to you?
GEORGE SANTOS: Well, Tulsi, thank you for having me. You know, um, to answer your question, integrity is very important. And, like I said to the New York Post, embelli–
TULSI GABBARD: (interrupting) What does it mean, though? Because the meaning of the word actually matters, in practice.
GEORGE SANTOS: Of course, it means to, to carry yourself in an honorable way. And I made a mistake. And I think humans are flawed and we all make mistakes, Tulsi. I think we can all look at ourselves in the mirror and admit that once in our life we made a mistake. I’m having to admit this on national television, for the whole country to see. And I have the courage to do so, because I believe that, in order to move past this, to move forward and be an effective member of Congress, I have to face my mistakes. And I’m facing them. Um, the reality is that I remain committed to doing everything I set forward in my campaign. I’m not a fraud. I’m not a fake. I, I, I didn’t materialize from thin air. I worked damn hard to get where I got my entire life. Life wasn’t easy; it didn’t start off easy. As I’ve said it many, many times, I come from abject poverty. I made some mistakes and I own up to them. (Tulsi attempts to interject, but he talks over her.) And now I want to put this thing past me so I can deliver for the American people.
TULSI GABBARD: The thing is, Congressman-elect, uh, integrity means, yes, carrying yourself with honor, but it means telling the truth. Being a person of integrity. If I were one of those in New York’s Third District right now, now that the election is over and I’m finding out all of these lies that you’ve told. Not just one little lie or one little embellishment–these are blatant lies. My question is: do you have no shame? Do you have no shame in the people you’re now asking to trust you to go and be their voice, for them, their families, and their kids in Washington?
Me: Damn, girl!
GEORGE SANTOS: Tulsi, I can say the same thing about the democrats and, uh, the party. Look at Joe Biden. Joe Biden’s been lying to the American people for forty years, he’s the present [sic] of the United States. Democrats resoundly [sic] support him. Do they have no shame? Look–
TULSI GABBARD: This is not–
GEORGE SANTOS: I’ve made this very clear.
TULSI GABBARD: This is not about democratic–
GEORGE SANTOS: I made a mistake.
TULSI GABBARD: –party, though. This is about your relationship–
GEORGE SANTOS: No, I understand.
TULSI GABBARD: –frankly, with the people who entrusted you to go and fight for them. And I think one of the questions that really probably hits home to a lot of people is is are you Jewish? We’ve got a letter that your campaign sent out earlier this year which reads as follows: “As a proud American Jew, I’ve been to Israel many times for educational, business, and leisurely trips.” You said there in that letter that you are a “proud American Jew.” How do you, how do you explain that?
GEORGE SANTOS: My heritage is Jewish. I’ve always identified as Jewish. I was raised a practicing Catholic. I think I’ve gone through this. Even I, not, not being raised a practicing Jew, I always joked with friends in circles, even with, in the campaign I’d say, “Guys, is I’m Jew-ish. Remember, I was raised Catholic. So, look, I understand everyone wants to nit-pick at me. I, I’m gonna reassure this once and for all. I’m not a façade, I’m not a persona. I, I have an extensive career that I worked really hard to achieve. And I’m gonna deliver for my experience, because I remain committed in delivering results for the American people. I campaigned on inflation. I campaigned on crime. I campaigned on education. I campaigned on delivering resolve [sic] for the American people. That’s what the people of the Third Congressional district heard me, on and on, as I campaigned. Now it’s gonna be up on, incumbent on me to deliver on those results. And I look forward to serv–, servicing and serving my people–
TULSI GABBARD: (interrupting) You’re exactlyly right.
GEORGE SANTOS: –my district. I look forward to serving my people and my district. (Tulsi is trying to interrupt, but he’s still talking over her.)
TULSI GABBARD: The results that people are looking for– (crosstalk) –are called into question when you tell blatant lies–not embellishments–and this is, this is one of the biggest concerns, Congressman-elect, is that you don’t really seem to be taking this seriously. You’ve apologized, you’ve said you’ve made mistakes; but you’ve outright lie– a lie is not an embellishment on a resume. You said you worked at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and they’ve said they’ve got no record of this guy working for us. You’ve said you’ve gone to and graduated from these universities, but they’ve said we’ve got no record of that. These are blatant lies and it calls into question how your constituents and the American people can believe anything that you may say when you are standing on the floor of the House of Representatives supposedly fighting for the. That’s the real issue here.
GEORGE SANTOS: Well, look, I, I, I agree with what you’re saying, and as I stated, and I continue, we can debate my resume and how I worked with firms such as Goldman and Citigroup–
TULSI GABBARD: Is it debatable, or is it just false? (cross talk)
GEORGE SANTOS: No, it’s not false. (The first real emotion–outrage–from him in this whole interview.) It’s not false at all. It’s debatable. I can, I can sit down and explain to you what you can do in private equity, in capital (garbled), via servicing limited partners and general partners. And we can have this discussion that’s gonna go way above the American people’s head.
Me: Yeah, it’s always a great idea to tell the folks who voted for you (and all the rest of us, as well) that we’re stupid. Good job!
GEORGE SANTOS: But that’s not what I campaigned on. I campaigned on delivering results–
TULSI GABBARD: Wow.
GEORGE SANTOS: –American people by, by lowering inflation. I, I can sit down if you want to have that discussion I’d be glad to, Tulsi, to explain that to you–
TULSI GABBARD: Congressman-elect–
GEORGE SANTOS: –and make sure that we settle the score.
TULSI GABBARD: This is not about settling scores, and I think you just kinda highlighted my concern, the concern that people at home have saying this discussion will go “way above the heads of the American people.” Basically insulting their intelligence. So not only are you now backtracking–
GEORGE SANTOS: That’s not what I’m saying–
TULSI GABBARD: –the lies that you’ve told–
GEORGE SANTOS: –but Tulsi, that’s not what–
TULSI GABBARD: –you’re saying that you can’t explain it in a way that your constituents would actually be able to understand– (There’s a lot of cross talk with him continuing to object that’s not what he said, when, in fact, it’s exactly what he said.) –and that these lies are debatable.
GEORGE SANTOS: I can explain it in a way, if you, if you give me the time I can easily– If you give me the time, I can easily explain it for you. As in, when investors are looking for capital, and I’m sitting there doing due diligence on the decis– on the appetite and what they’re looking for, right? We worked alongside GPs and LPs to help them place this capital. This is what I was doing and that’s when I worked extensively with these firms and many other firms at my time as the Vice President of Linkbridge Investors. So this isn’t, this isn’t a made-up narrative. But I feel like nobody wants to sit down and talk about it, everybody just wants to push me and call me a liar. Look–
TULSI GABBARD: Congressman-elect Santos, Congressman-elect Santos, we’ve given you a lot of time, I think, the time that is owed to the people of New York’s Third, and, uh, it’s hard to imagine how they could possibly trust your explanations when you’re not even willing to admit the depth of your deception to them. Thank you so much for being here and joining us.
Keep this interview in mind in light of everything we’ve learned about Santos since this aired, along with his OAN interview which airs today.
Have a great rest of your Saturday.
BTW, Demosthenes can’t seem to get to TNB right now. He’s on vacation and didn’t want y’all to worry if you don’t see him for the next 8 or 9 days.